


Reprieve

by verbaepulchellae



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: End of the series filler scene, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly friends with a little bit more, Protective Katara, Protective Zuko, post agni kai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26035897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verbaepulchellae/pseuds/verbaepulchellae
Summary: She’s not sure what reserves he’s calling on, but somehow Zuko manages to oversee Azula’s confinement; manages to stand before the Fire Sages and accept their allegiance as the new Fire Lord; manages even to briefly address the few remaining advisors and guards in the palace before he turns to Katara, pale and shaking and a little breathless when he says, “I think I need to rest now.”
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 217





	Reprieve

**Author's Note:**

> Ya girl was raised on Zutara and now she's back to feast. It's been a long time since I wrote for this fandom but it feels good to come back to these characters and this world.
> 
> This may be part of a larger series of oneshots. We shall see!

She’s not sure what reserves he’s calling on, but somehow Zuko manages to oversee Azula’s confinement; manages to stand before the Fire Sages and accept their allegiance as the new Fire Lord; manages even to briefly address the few remaining advisors and guards in the palace before he turns to Katara, pale and shaking and a little breathless when he says, “I think I need to rest now.” 

“You needed to rest over an hour ago,” Katara snaps, fear clogging her throat as she helps him limp back through the echoing, imposing halls of the Fire Palace. Everything is gold, scarlet and maroon. Everything is lavish, rich and gilded. In this palace of might and force, he’s just a boy on the brink of collapse. They’re just two kids ragged from war, more comfortable in shadows than in the opulent home built for conquerors and imperialists.

“I needed to make sure we’d be safe,” Zuko manages, bracing one hand against a pillar and stopping to take a breath. A fine tremor goes through him and Katara steadies him. “Just until Aang and the others get back.”

“I’ll take another look at your burn when we get you lying down,” Katara promises him. “Let’s get you there before you collapse, though, ok?”

“Yeah, good plan,” he huffs and it’s with clear effort that he takes another step. Katara tucks herself under his shoulder to help take his weight and can feel his pulse leap and tap an unsteady rhythm. When she blinks, the after image of Zuko engulfed in blue lightning and flame is still seared into her retina. 

She doesn’t know how they make it to Zuko’s apartments without him collapsing, but she manages to get him down on the bed and Zuko winces as he shifts to prop himself up against the pillows. 

“You ok?”

“Stings a bit,” he grits out and that’s an understatement of the century. 

“Let me help.” She calls her water to her hand and reaches for him but Zuko catches her wrist gently, his eyes on her face, brown deepening in concern.

“You’re hurt,” he says, fingers contracting on her wrist, worry or the lingering effects of the lightning, Katara’s not sure. “She hurt you.”

“It’s just a scratch,” Katara soothes him. “Just a little shrapnel.” She’d forgotten about the sting of exploded stone and iron, the knick across her forehead and on her cheek. She’s surprised she’s not any worse for wear, if she’s honest, being as close as she was to the Agni Kai, being the focus of Azula’s wrath after Zuko went down. 

“There’s some herbs,” Zuko says, trying to sit back up. “And bandages. Over there. I can-” He chokes and a shiver goes through his body again, and Katara catches his weight as he seems to seize. 

“Zuko, please, just lie down.” Her voice has gone icey with fear as Zuko coughs weakly and wetly into her arm. “How did you even manage to stay standing before? You have to take it easy, you hear me? You can’t staring yourself. Not for a few days.”

“I know,” he breathes as she gets him settled back against the pillows, places her hand cool with water on his forehead. “I’m not going anywhere. I won’t let you guys down.”

“That’s not what I-” she starts and shakes her head and just presses her fingers to his temples. He does need to live. They need him alive to end this war, to change the world without any further loss or pain or suffering. He’s instrumental to that– but that hadn’t been what she meant. She just wants him to be ok. She wants this kid- this awkward, shy, angry, powerful, kind boy who’d just thrown himself in front of a lightning bolt to save her life- to live. She wants her friend to be ok. 

“I know you won’t,” she manages after a moment as she searches for anything she may have missed, anything that could explain how hot he feels to the touch. Did he always run this hot? She can’t remember. “But you have to promise me you’re going to rest.”

She doesn’t realize she’s crying until Zuko’s hands are suddenly hovering by her face, like he wants to touch her but doesn’t trust himself. “Katara,” he rasps. “What did I-”

She wipes her tears away roughly but more fill her eyes, slip down her cheeks. Now that she’s started she can’t seem to stop, her vision blurring as she tries to focus on Zuko’s drawn face, the angry red burn across his chest that matches the one across his eye. She scrubs desperately at her tears because she needs to get a grip. They both survived th near impossible, and she can’t break down now. She can’t be a child now.

Zuko’s thumb, calloused and too-warm, brushes a stray tear away from under her eye, and catches another on her cheek.

“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you until Aang gets back. You’re safe, ok?” he murmurs, his voice rough and broken, yet still filled with conviction. “I promise.”

“I’m not worried about me!” She chokes, but can’t bring herself to bat his hand away. 

“Yeah, but,” he says. “I am.” 

“I’m ok,” Katara tells him, which feels ridiculous because Zuko was the one who took the lightning hit, and all she has are a few scratches. He’s staring at her with a fevered intensity, half present, half lost, and she realizes that maybe he hasn’t even fully processed that yet. Maybe part of him is still stuck in the stretch of time, that moment in which Azula changed her posture and her aim, in which he started to move. 

Maybe he can’t truly believe that it’s over- that they’re both as safe as they can get until they hear from their friends. 

“We’re both safe, ok? You beat Azula: you won. All you have to do now, to keep us safe, to keep me safe, is to rest. Can you do that for me?” 

He nods, but he doens’t seem convinced. Katara carefully stretches out next to him, a body length away and clasps his hand when he reaches out to her tentatively. “We’re ok,” she tells him again. “I promise.”

“Ok,” he murmurs, although he still glances towards the door. Katara sends her water out and freezes the door shut. It wouldn’t do them much good if they were in any real danger now, but it’s a sense of security that soothes her own jangled nerves and seems to calm Zuko too. “Ok,” he says again distantly and his fingers contract once around hers. 

Zuko succumbs to his much needed rest soon after and Katara wiggles herself up to sit against the headboard and keeps watch. His breathing is almost too shallow to track so she curls her fingers under his nose and lets the soft, warm gust of his breath soothe her. 

She’s alive, thanks to him. And he survived, thanks to her. There’s no word for what they are to each other- no word or phrase she knows that captures all the varied forms of what they’re history has held, and if there was, she’s not sure she wants to know it. Better to leave this funny, aching, pained relief unnamed in her chest than to excavate and study it. 

She pushes it away as she marks the second hour of Zuko’s sleep with a healing hand on the raw, raised skin on his chest. She buries it as she rests her forehead on her forearms and waits for their friends to return.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos always deeply appreciated!


End file.
